dsh-subagent-cwd

dsh-subagent-cwd

Enhanced subagent delegation tools for DeepSeek Harness (dsh) with per-call working-directory control.

Everything in dsh-subagent-tools (per-call model / provider / persona / toolFilter overrides, @preset: references, provider/model composite ids) plus a per-call cwd parameter — shipped with the two small provider patches that make cwd actually work.

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Choose one of the two packages — not both

Install either one. Both expose the same tool surface (subagent / subagent_fork) and colliding installations would fight over the tool names.

Why cwd needs patches (and the other features don't)

SubagentStartRequest has no cwd field, and the in-process drive layer builds child session meta purely from childSessionMeta(parent, ...) — a per-call cwd is never forwarded. Two code paths create in-process children, and both must be patched or you hit the classic trap where the foreground path honors cwd while the background path silently ignores it:

The second one is a bundle trap: package.json main/exports point at lib/index.js, which contains an inline copy of the continuation manager. Patching the source-shaped lib/types/continuation.js has no effect — always patch and verify the bundle.

persona × preset coexistence (patch v2)

When preset and persona are given TOGETHER (e.g. subagent(preset: "@preset:router-standard", persona: "@preset:翻译员")), the old patch registered the per-call persona as the deployment:persona section, which router-style presets then deleted by name on every assemble (applyPersona strips every section whose name matches /persona/i) — the role persona was silently lost.

Patch v2 (install.ps1 hunk 3 / hunk 5, three-state: raw / old-patch / new-patch all upgrade) instead:

• skips the deployment:persona registration when preset AND persona are both given;
• registers the per-call persona AFTER recompose as delegation:role (order 1, no "persona" in the

name), which the router's filter cannot reach — so the preset's own reasoning persona and the delegated role persona COEXIST.

Passing only persona (no preset) keeps the old behavior: plain deployment:persona shadowing.

The patch v2 hunks (3–5) are currently implemented only in install.ps1 (Windows). The POSIX install.sh preset hunks will be added in a follow-up; on Linux the preset parameter is accepted but does not recompose until that lands.

⚠️ Limitation: persona is lost under router-style presets

Even with patch v2 in place, when a subagent/member uses a router-style preset (e.g. @preset:dsh-router-standard), the per-call persona still does NOT reach the system prompt. This is a mechanism-level behavior of router-style presets: their system-prompt/assemble hook deletes every section whose name matches /persona/i and injects the preset's own dynamic persona. As a result only the preset's built-in dynamic persona takes effect; your custom role persona is silently dropped.

Workarounds:

• a) Use a non-router-style preset (e.g. standard) so the persona parameter is honored;
• b) Inject the role definition through the message layer instead (first-turn prompt

prefix / task-message prefix, e.g. the stitching mechanism used by agent-teams), which does not depend on cwd;

• c) Or accept that the persona parameter is a no-op under router-style presets (the

preset's own dynamic persona takes over).

Installation

# 1. install the plugin (npm / git / local)
dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-subagent-cwd

# 2. apply the two provider patches (required for `cwd`)
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File patches\install.ps1    # Windows
# or: ./patches/install.sh                                       # POSIX

# 3. Web sessions: also run the preset adapter (see below)
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File install-preset.ps1     # Windows
# or: ./install-preset.sh                                       # POSIX

Restart dsh --profile web and start a NEW session.

Web sessions need the preset adapter

In the web profile, agent tools are provided by the mounted agent preset (the default standard preset composes subagent / subagent_fork pointing at @deepseek-ai/dsh-tool-subagent), not by the host plane — a bundle patch is invisible to Web sessions. install-preset.ps1 / install-preset.sh copies standard to $DSH_HOME/.agent-presets/standard-plus, rewrites its delegation rows to point at this package, and switches the default preset. Presets are read at session creation, so you must start a NEW session (live sessions cannot switch). Revert: pick standard in the UI (General > Agent preset) and delete standard-plus.

headless and other non-web profiles do not need the preset adapter.

Upgrading dsh

A dsh upgrade rewrites node_modules and wipes both patches. After every upgrade:

# re-run the installer (it is idempotent; it also detects version-mismatched anchors)
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File patches\install.ps1

If the installer reports "anchor not found", the target packages changed shape — check for a new dsh-subagent-cwd release or file an issue.

Uninstall

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File patches\uninstall.ps1   # Windows
# or: ./patches/uninstall.sh                                     # POSIX
dsh plugin --profile web remove dsh-subagent-cwd

Example

Let a subagent work in a directory without the repo's AGENTS.md injected:
  subagent(description="Summarize this file", prompt="...", cwd="D:\\projects\\scratch\\notes")

Design

• The tool surface is a bundle. The shipped tool-subagent /

tool-subagent-fork rows are disabled and replaced by this package's rows; no official package file is modified for the tool surface itself.

• cwd is the one capability that cannot stay a bundle-only feature.

SubagentStartRequest has no cwd field, so a per-call cwd must be forwarded by the in-process subagent providers. That needs the two small patches (one hunk each) in patches/ — idempotent, backed up on first run, and node --check-verified. This is the entire reason this package exists separately from dsh-subagent-tools.

• Version contract: peerDependencies pin the public dsh packages

(0.1.1-rc.1). The patches target the same version; a dsh upgrade rewrites the dsh installation's node_modules and wipes both patches — re-run patches/install.ps1 / install.sh after every upgrade (see *Upgrading dsh*). The bundle itself lives in the profile's own node_modules and survives an upgrade, but a changed public API will make peerDependencies refuse to load.

Verified

Tested against a stock dsh 0.1.1-rc.1 install on Windows (headless + web):

• Everything dsh-subagent-tools verifies (per-call model/provider/persona/

toolFilter, @preset:, presetHints) ✅

• cwd on the foreground path ✅ — the child's pwd and its sandbox

workspace both switch to the requested directory

• cwd on the continuable (background) path ✅ — background children honor

the same directory (the classic "foreground works, background silently ignores cwd" trap does not occur)

• toolFilter scoping ✅
• patches/install.ps1 and patches/uninstall.ps1 round-trip ✅ (backup,

apply, node --check, restore, re-verify)

Limitations

• Patches target rc.1 (0.1.1-rc.1). The two patches match exact anchors in

the rc.1 official sources; if a future dsh upgrade moves the anchors, re-run patches/install.ps1 — "anchor not found" means the patches need a new adaptation. Since rc.1, the official driver natively consumes per-call persona / toolFilter (applyChildComposition reads request.persona); the patches only cover what the official code still lacks: per-call cwd forwarding and per-call preset recompose.

• @preset: depends on the local preset layout — same caveat as

dsh-subagent-tools.

• Web sessions need the preset adapter (install-preset.ps1) for the same

reason as dsh-subagent-tools.

License

MIT